


Random Short ST Stories

by suluismyspirit



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy days, Angst, Fluff, Humor, Random & Short, Short Stories, shinanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-01-05 02:22:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12181035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suluismyspirit/pseuds/suluismyspirit
Summary: Here is where I shall dump all of the short (and some not quite as short) stories that have cropped up during my break in writing.





	1. Tag, you're it

Hikaru lunged forward, tucking and rolling to take cover behind a rock wall. He leaned against it, weapon held tight to his chest, heart racing with adrenaline. He was covered with a slight sheen of sweat, for all that it was almost pitch black in this place. He dared to peek out from his cover, cursing and pulling back a second later as a flash of light breezed past. His opponent had obviously spotted him, and Sulu knew it was only a matter of time before his position was overrun. 

Crouching low, Sulu moved along the wall, turning down an alley at the end. He held his breath for a moment, peeking through a gap in this new wall that served as cover. Sure enough, he caught a glimpse of his quarry. His opponent might, technically, be a genius and smarter, but Karu was a slippery little thing, and he’d already come up with a plan on how to win.

He let his weapon hang down his back from the strap across his shoulder, then began the painstaking challenge of scaling the wall in front of him. It wasn’t exactly easy, especially as it wasn’t built to be climbed on and he needed to do this quietly. 

It was far too wobbly at the top, but Sulu had the high ground so he wasn’t going to complain. Hikaru held his arms out for balance as he tiptoed across the carefully across the narrow wall. He almost snickered at the image of those archaic gymnastic bars that he’d seen in a museum once, this was far too similar. He stayed quiet however, not wanting to give away his position.

In next to no time, Hikaru found who he was looking for. It was dark, but the green glow of his weapon gave him away. Sulu’s weapon had a red glow to it, but since he was up higher, where the other man wasn’t looking, he was safe.

Hikaru reached around to ready his weapon, waiting for the perfect moment before leaping down with a battle cry, firing away.

Chekov screeched like a banshee, taking a flying leap away from the sudden attack and falling face first on the ground, vest flashing a glaring red as the lights in the room came on. He rolled over and sat up, glaring ineffectually at Hikaru, who just so happened to be almost on the floor laughing. 

“No fair, Karu! You aren’t supposed to climb! Zhat iz cheating!”

“It’s not… it’s not cheating…” Sulu tried to defend himself, though he was having a hard time stringing words together he was laughing so hard. “I was just taking advantage of the terrain.” Sulu tried to get ahold of himself, tuning the laughter down to a slight chuckle as he moved forward to help Chekov up.

Chekov scowled at him, accepting the hand and dusting himself off once he was on his feet again. “Zhe rules of lazer tag say zhat you cannot climb zhe structure.” 

“Oh, come on, Pav.” Sulu grinned, elbowing him slightly. “I had to get at least one win in. Take the loss with grace. Like me.”

“Aye, yes, you hawe had practice wizh zhat.” Chekov snorted, a teasing grin forming. “What iz zhe score again?”

“Hey, you know what? All this running around has me starving!” Sulu interrupted, slinging an arm around Chekov. “How bout we call it a draw, get some lunch.”

Chekov shook his head and laughed, but let Sulu pull him along.


	2. Studying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is based on a post I saw on Tumblr.

In was midway through the week at the academy and, as per usual, Sulu was hanging out in Chekov’s quarters that evening. Also per usual, Sulu was the only one with homework to do. Chekov, being the little genius that he was, had completed all of his for the week. Since Karu was currently working on studying for an exam in his Botany course, and Chekov would be little use in assisting even in Sulu would have let him, he was currently curled up watching a movie.

At first, Pav had obviously been hesitant to have a movie playing whilst his friend was attempting to study, but Hikaru had convinced him that it was fine. “It’ll help, I promise, background noise and all that,” he’d said. It still took Sulu rolling his eyes, starting Brother Bear playing, wrapping Chekov in a blanket and pushing him onto the couch, much to the Russian’s amusement. 

Thus, Chekov found himself half way through the movie and considering taking a nap since he’d seen it more than once. That was, of course, until Sulu snapped his book shut loudly and let out a groan. “Ugh, I can’t study like this!”

Chekov craned his head around to look at Karu in concern. “Vhat, wiz Brozher Bear playing?” 

“What?” Sulu questioned in slight surprise. “No, I just don’t like studying.”


	3. Bird Sitting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me preface this with this one explanation:  
> In a longstanding RP back and forth between myself and my friend Augs, Pavel Chekov has a pet duck named Utka. Sulu is also somewhat scared of birds. Call it a phobia. I don't care if it's canon or not, that's how I write him.   
> If that's not enough explanation, leave me a note and I'll elaborate, but it's really quite simple.

Sulu stood staring uncomfortably at the duck currently residing on his bed. Pav was away, had been for nearing a week now, and was due back on the Enterprise tomorrow. Originally, the Russian had given Utka to Uhura for her to take care of, but then she’d been called away and had passed the duck onto Scotty, who in turn had brought her to Sulu a few minutes ago. The engineer had pushed the duck into Hikaru’s arms with a muttered complain as to why Pav hadn’t just given her to Sulu in the first place, before leaving without a backward glance. 

All of this mattered little to Sulu. The only thing on his mind right now was the duck sitting on his bed giving him what he could only call a calculating gaze. 

“Alright now, Utka.” He told her, attempting to keep his voice even and calm even though there was a /bird/ on his /bed/ and he had no idea what to do about it. “You’re stuck with me til Pav gets back, so let’s keep this nice and civil, alright?” 

She gave a loud quack in response, flapping her wings slightly, and Sulu jumped back with a short curse, crossing his arms defensively as he glared. “That is /not/ how you be civil, duck!” He hissed nervously, already dreading the remaining time until Chekov returned. Honestly, what had Scotty been thinking?? He didn’t know how to take care of a duck... Sure, he knew what to feed her and all the basics simply because Chek was his best friend, but beyond that… 

Hikaru was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of his door opening, and he turned in time to see Utka’s feathered tail waddling out of sight. 

“Oh, f-“ Sulu’s eyes went wide and, without really knowing just _how_ he was going to catch Utka and bring her back here, he dashed out the door in pursuit.  
Impossibly, Utka was already halfway down the corridor when Hikaru made it out of his quarters. He set off at a quick jog after her, watching with dismay and horror as she hopped up into a maintenance vent and vanished from sight. “No, no, no! Seriously?!” Hikaru cried out, looking up as if the answer could somehow to be found on the roof. “Who just leaves a maintenance vent open?? This cannot be happening!” 

Hikaru ran a hand through his hair, knowing he was wasting precious moment, but he was finding it hard to build up the courage to chase after Utka in there. Out here in the open corridor was one thing, he could easily avoid an attack if the bird decided to jump him. But in there… too tight of a space gave Utka a big advantage. After a moment he groaned, knowing he had no choice. Pav would be _devastated_ if something happened to her, and wasn’t going to risk that happening. 

After a couple of deep breaths, Sulu crawled into the maintenance shaft, muttering curses under his breath. He crawled as quickly as he could for a while, worried about losing Utka. When he approached a branch in path, he began to worry. He had no idea whether Utka had gone left or right. That ended up not mattering because, as Sulu drew closer to the turns, there was a flurry of wings and a loud quacking and Utka ran loudly past. 

He would deny it to the end of his days, but Hikaru let out a high screech and leapt about a foot in the air. Unfortunately, the vent wasn’t that big and he ended up banging his head on the top of it, spitting out curses as he tried to back away as quickly as he could from the feathered menace. Pretty soon the stars faded from his eyes and by then Utka was nowhere to be seen again.   
Sulu resisted the urge to rub his now aching head and instead started moving forward again, though far more carefully. He was so focused on keeping an eye out for rampaging ducks, that Sulu didn’t see the loose and damaged wire hanging down in the vent. He certainly noticed it when his shoulder touch it, however. 

He flinched away from the sharp shock, yelping at the pain and then gritting his teeth at the numbness in his right arm. He supposed he was lucky that Utka hadn’t touched that. While the numbness was slowly fading as he shook out his arm, he could definitely tell that his shoulder was burnt a little. Something as small as Utka would not have gotten away so lightly. 

It wasn’t super comfortable sitting hunched over and shaking the remaining tingles out of his arm, but Sulu took that moment to call engineering on the comm about the damaged wire. He was a little short tempered when the engineer question just _why_ he was even there in the first place, but that was the least of his problems right now. Once he got confirmation that they’d send a repairman, he carefully slithered past the live wire and continued his search for Utka.

He had no idea how long he’d been crawling around the interior of the ship following after that duck, but it felt like hours. He was sweaty, dirty, dusty, and exhausted. And he would swear the cheeky thing was taunting him. It was with no small amount of relief that he saw the end of this maintenance shaft. Unsurprisingly, that side of it was open as well and Sulu could see and hear the familiar sounds of the engineering room beyond. _Of course_ Utka would come here of all places. Chekov probably brought her around this place all the time. 

Hikaru fell out of the vent with a thud, there was his other shoulder bruised probably, looking up once he regained his equilibrium. A few feet away, comfy on the railing, sat Utka. Sulu narrowed his eyes at the cheeky quack she let out.

“Why, you sassy little b-“

“Mister Sulu. Would you please explain what you are doing down there?” A dry voice interrupted his insult and Sulu slowly turned to look up at the officer on the catwalk above. Dammit. Spock.

Hikaru knew that Spock was not, and never had been, in agreement with Kirk’s decision to let Pavel adopt and keep Utka on board the Enterprise. He didn’t think the Vulcan would appreciate Utka running loose and Sulu didn’t want to accidentally be the cause of Spock successfully changing Kirk’s mind about Utka being allowed on board. Happily, from where he was standing there was no way that Spock could see Utka right now.

“Uh…” Sulu fished for a suitable answer as he stood up, dragging out the time by dusting himself off. “I was uh…” His gaze drifted over to Scotty who, thankfully, was with the Vulcan. He gave the chief engineer his most pleading, hopeful eyes, begging for some help.

Scotty wasn’t sure what was going on, but given Sulu’s expression he didn’t think it was something Spock would approve of. Deciding to take pity on the pilot, though fully intending to get details later, Scotty snorted to draw the Commander’s attention and cover for Sulu. “Ach, I’ve given up on askin’ just what he gets up to in his spare time. Good enough for me he found that pesky fault in the energy conduits. Long as he’s fixin’ things, not breakin’ em, I say leave em be. Now, Commander, about those equipment requests…”

Sulu watched with relief as the two walked away, then turned a glare to the source of his troubles. Utka.

“You know, my grandmother used to cook ducks.” He snipped at Utka. She gave an affronted sounding squawk, flapping her wings as she hopped off the rail. Naturally, Sulu jerked back, not wanting to add ‘duck bite’ to his list of injuries. 

Utka took the opportunity to bold for freedom, racing past a gaping Sulu. Hikaru would swear that she was cackling with laughter as she did so, wings held high and her little webbed feet padding right out the door. 

“No! Wait, come back! I was only joking!” Hikaru cried out, chasing after her once again. 

For such a little thing, she was surprisingly fast. He lost count of the corners he turned in pursuit of her, but as he turned the next one he came skidding to a halt, face paling at Utka’s destination. Oh, he was so dead. He tried, and failed, to reach the duck before she could go in, but in the end it was a futile attempt. He could only stare in dread at the now closed medbay doors.

Hikaru wasn’t sure whether to hope it was Adams or McCoy on duty at the moment. Adams wouldn’t care if Utka was in there, probably wouldn’t notice. But a nurse would probably make sure that Sulu stayed to get his injuries treated, and Adams (or as Sulu like to call him, Doctor Hypobruise) was a little too heavy handed in Sulu’s opinion. Sure, a competent doctor, but he didn’t have a firm grasp on how to deal with an injury gently. 

McCoy on the other hand… He’d certainly notice and disapprove of Utka in his sickbay. Then Hikaru would be in for a long lecture for both letting Utka into the sickbay and for getting injured in the first place. Not exactly a happy alternative, but it was slightly less painful.

Squaring his shoulders, Sulu walked into sickbay. A quick sweep of the room revealed neither doctor, but he did see Utka sitting happily with Nurse Chapel, staring at her whilst she ate a sandwich. Rolling his eyes, Sulu started to make his way over. 

He was halfway there when he was spotted, McCoy’s southern drawl stopping him in his tracks. “Just what the heck did you do to yourself?”

Swiftly, Sulu switched directions, heading over to McCoy in hopes that the doctor wouldn’t notice Utka by Chapel. He grinned brightly. “Hey doc!” 

McCoy scowled slightly at the overly cheery greeting, eyeing the slight singe of the pilot’s shirt critically. “Mister Sulu. Guess I should be glad you came down here instead of me having to hunt you down like usual.”

Sulu blinked in confusion at hearing McCoy say something that sounded almost like approval. “Uh… yeah. That’s… Yeah, that’s what I did. Came straight here.” He was not about to pass up this rare opportunity of not getting yelled at by McCoy. If the doctor thought he’d come here voluntarily, he wasn’t going to correct him.

McCoy lifted a disbelieving eyebrow, lips thinning as he frowned, but he declined from commenting. Instead, he asked, “so what did you do to yourself this time?”

“Found the short in engineering by running into the wire in the maintenance shaft.” Sulu responded, daring to glance over at Utka worriedly. The duck didn’t seem to be inclined to go anywhere anytime soon, too interested in watching Chapel with her sandwich. Hikaru turned back to McCoy quickly, happy to note that the doctor hadn’t seemed to notice. “My right arm was numb for a minute, but feels alright now. Shoulder feels like it might be burnt thought.”

McCoy gave Hikaru a short look for his self-diagnosis, but didn’t say anything about it. For whatever reason, the pilot was being cooperative and informative as to his physical condition rather than just staunchly and stubbornly insisting that he wasn’t hurt at all. McCoy wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Grabbing a handheld scanner, McCoy ran it along the injured limb. “Looks like you don’t have any nerve damage.” He commented, moving over to the pilot’s singed shoulder. “And your uniform took most of the damage here. Dermal regenerator should fix it completely.” McCoy put the scanner down to pick up the regenerator to start treating the burned shoulder. “Anything else I should know about?”

“I think I bruised the other shoulder falling out of the vent.” Sulu offered. McCoy was in a rare mood and Sulu was actually happy with the attention at the moment. After the long day he’d had, a pleasant McCoy was a nice change. “And I hit my head on the top of it too.” 

“Fell out of-? Know what, never mind. I ain’t even gonna ask.” McCoy stated, shaking his head. Whatever Sulu had been up too was far enough away from him and the sickbay that even if it was some prank McCoy could, and would, just stay out of it. 

Sulu chuckled as McCoy treated the bruise, then pulled him forward to inspect the back of his head. No questions, awesome. After a few more minutes, McCoy was finished and sending him away. Sulu waited until the CMO was turned back toward his office before looking back towards Nurse Chapel and… 

…

Where was Utka?

Hikaru locked eyes with Chapel for a moment and she gave him a wry grin, nodding towards the door and the few crumbs leading up to it. Stifling a groan, because the last thing he needed was McCoy hearing and coming out to try and figure out what was wrong with him, he trudged out the door. 

Utka was waddling slowly down the corridor, nibbling on a crust of bread. Sulu sighed, following after her, trying to figure out how to get this duck back to his room without having to pick her up. Sure, she looked happy now, but he wasn’t gonna risk getting bit. He was just so exhausted and he couldn’t summon the guts to pick her up right now anyways. The day was quickly catching up to him and he was very glad at how slowly Utka was waddling, it made it easy to keep up with her. He didn’t even care how strange the two of them must look right now.

Hikaru came to an abrupt stop when Utka did, blinking tiredly at the duck. She looked at him, then to the door she stood next to, back to him, then waddled unconcernedly through the door. It was only then that Sulu noticed they were back at his quarters. He groaned as he walked in, shutting and locking the door behind him so that Utka couldn’t escape again. He gave the duck a tired glare, muttering under his breath. “I so hate you right now.” Utka, of course, was completely unconcerned as Sulu walked past her to flop down on the bed tiredly.

~~

Chekov was glad to be back on the Enterprise almost a whole day early. He couldn’t wait to see Utka, he’d missed her very much. It hadn’t helped that he’d been surrounded by birds which constantly reminded him of his lovely pet. 

So, as soon as he was aboard, he made his way to Uhura’s quarters in hopes she was still awake even at this late hour. Once he got there, and rang the chime to no answer, he stood a little unsure. While he very much wanted to see Utka, he wasn’t about to break into Uhura’s room. 

“Hey, Chekov.” 

Pavel turned at his name, waving in confusion at the ensign coming over.

“If you’re looking for Uhura, she’s not here. She’s off on some family emergency or something.” 

“Vhat about Utka?” Chekov asked immediately, concerned and still slightly confused.

“Utka..? OH! Yeah, your pet duck! I saw her give the duck to Scotty. You should go ask him, he’s in engineering still. Anyway, goodnight.” With a short wave, the other ensign headed off to his own quarters.

Chekov stood there for a moment, then shrugged and headed to engineering. 

He found Scotty pretty quickly, he was scolding Keinser about climbing on the warp drive or something. Chekov didn’t bother to pay it any attention, too focused on finding out about Utka. “Mister Scott!” He called out a greeting, pulling the engineer’s attentions away from Keinser.

“Ah! Hey, laddie, you’re back early!”

“Yes, sir.” Chekov grinned. “But I vas here to ask you about Utka? I vas told Uhura had to give her to you?”

“Aye, yea, Uhura gave her to me. She had some family emergency to deal with. But I had so much going on here, I dinna have time to take care of her proper. So, I left her with Sulu.” Scotty informed him, giving him an apologetic look. The two of them were interrupted a moment later by a loud hiss of a steam vent and Scotty cursed. “Head over to Sulu’s room, you’ll probably find them there.” Scotty advised Chekov before hurrying away.

Chekov bit his tongue for a moment, worried. While he was certain that Utka loved Sulu, he was equally sure that Sulu only tolerated Utka for his sake. It was the whole reason he hadn’t asked Karu in the first place. 

With that on his mind, he hurried out of engineering, making a beeline for Karu’s room. He ran into Kirk on his way there, almost literally. Kirk laughed, hands darting out to keep Chekov on his feet. “Hey, Chekov, welcome back.”

“Sorry, Keptain. Zhank you.” He apologized, giving Kirk a smile. “I vas just on my vay to get Utka.” He wasn’t expecting Kirk to snort with laughter at that, mirth in his eyes.

“I just saw her a while ago, wandering down the corridor munching on some bread. Sulu was trailing along behind her like a little duckling. It was great!” Kirk laughed, shaking his head as he remembered the picture the two of them had been. “Looked like they were headed back to Sulu’s quarters, so you’ll probably find them there.”

Chekov nodded, glad to have it confirmed as to where Utka was going to be. He made a quick goodbye to Kirk, eager to see his Utka even more now.

He found Karu’s room locked once he arrived but, unlike Uhura’s quarters, he had no qualms about picking the lock and going in. He stopped in his tracks once inside, clapping a hand over his mouth to keep in the giggles. 

Sulu was fast asleep, lying on his stomach, with Utka curled up on his back, equally asleep with her head tucked under one wing.


	4. Russian Winter Fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got all my information about treating/saving someone who fell into ice water from wikihow, so forgive any mistakes.

Chekov was plastered to the window. He and Sulu had landed only minutes before and he was already aching to go outside. The Enterprise had given some of the crew off, able to choose any location on earth of their choosing. Hikaru had let Chekov decide. Bad idea? That remained to be seen. 

The Russian was dressed in a thick parka, one of which he wanted to get rid of, but McCoy had insisted. Chekov really didn't see how the doctor would know more about his home country than he did, but he wasn't going to push his limits. Even with the man not being there, news would somehow get back and he would be lectured upon arrival. 

"Karu, Karu! Look at all the snooooow~" He was filled with wonder and excitement, more childlike now that he was off duty and in his element.  
Sulu joined Chekov by the window, peering out at the seemingly endless expanse of white power. It looked beautiful, he’d give Pav that much, but he really didn’t feel the same level of eagerness. It might look nice out, and it felt nice and comfy in here, he knew it was going to be icy cold out there. 

Hikaru had a coat of his own on, but it came nowhere near matching the thickness of Chekov’s. He felt like he was close to sweating here in the building though, so he figured it was fine. Hikaru wasn’t exactly surprised by Pav’s choice of location, it was his homeland after all, but he wished it hadn’t been so close to winter that they’d been granted the shore leave. 

“Yeah, I see it Pav. Snow. Delightful.” He grinned, shaking his head and switching tone. He didn’t want to knock down Pav’s enthusiasm without even giving it a chance. “Well, come on, let’s go. I know you want to.” Sulu might not be so keen on going out in the snow, but he was curious and more than happy to explore the place.

Chekov was bouncing on his feet, eager to go outside. It had been so long since he had seen real snow. The fake stuff just didn't cut it. 

He grabbed Sulu's hand and ran towards the door, slowing only so he wouldn't run anyone down. It was all so familiar and he was loving it. "I know you are going to _lowe_ eet!" he exclaimed, beginning to babble. "I know you do not like zhe cold but trust me, Karu, you hawe not been in zhe _right_ cold! Russian cold is zhe best cold." 

They finally made it outside. Chekov let go of Hikaru's hand and pranced forward, laughing lightly. 

Sulu allowed himself to be dragged along, chuckling at Pav’s excitement. He was very glad his friend was already having such a good time. It was worth the cold.

Or… At least he thought so up the point he actually stepped out in it. He had to bit his tongue to keep from cursing, the icy cold hitting him all at once. He could feel the snow over his boots when he stepped out in it, and he automatically curled his arms around himself when the wind blew slightly. How Pav could be dancing around so happily, he had no idea. Still, Chekov's joy was infectious.

“Russian cold. Yeah.” Sulu laughed, tagging along after Chekov at a slower, more sedate, pace. “You Russians don’t do anything half way, I’ll give ya that.” 

Pavel snickered, moving to circle around Sulu. "All or nozhing!" he quipped, barely noticing Sulu's discomfort. He didn't mean to be oblivious, he was just too caught up in everything. 

He was quiet for a few moments, before dashing into the deeper snow. He scooped up a handful and rolled it into a ball, hurling at Sulu a second later. "Bet you cannot hit me!" he yelled, hopping back and forth.

Sulu yelped in surprise, and shock at the cold, when the snowball hit him. He laughed a second later, bending down to scoop up a snowball of his own. “Wanna bet?” He countered, throwing it before immediately scooping up more snow to make another, ignoring the cold biting into his bare fingers. This was war!

Chekov tried to dodge the snowball, but it still managed to hit his shoulder. He laughed, bending down to create more. He threw one back at Hikaru, then turned to sprint out of range, giggling all the way. "Be careful!" he taunted once he decided he was out of reach. "Ve are in my home country!" 

Now that he saw it coming, and motivated not to have any more cold slush make its way into his collar, Sulu managed to duck under Chekov’s next volley. “Ah, but you forget! I’m handsome and charming. I’ll have the people on my side in no time!” Sulu laughed, having no idea what he was talking about, but threw a couple more snowballs anyway. 

That was about his limit for snowball making though, and he curled his hands under his arms to get some feeling back in them. He grinned at Chekov as he walked closer, shaking his head in surrender. “But, since it’s your home town, I’ll give ya the win this time.”

Chekov dodged the throws, carefully crouching to start making more ammo. Once Hikaru surrendered, however, he dropped the snow and trotted closer, smiling. "Spasibo, Karu. Next time ve are in your hometown, you vill vin." He looped arms with the Asian, guiding him back to the path. "I know zhis great/ hot chocolate place. Eef eet ees still zhere, do you vant to go?" 

With Chekov’s arm in his, Sulu could only keep one cold hand covered, but at the mention of hot chocolate he perked up. “Hot chocolate you say? Lead the way! Warp 5 Ensign!” He declared dramatically. He get some hot chocolate, get warmed up, and the be ready to tackle this cold again. 

Chekov easily lead the way, navigating through the small clusters of people and quietly laughing at Sulu's comment. 

"Eet ees just up ahead here," he said, seeing the building approach. His steps quickened, and he smiled mischievously at Hikaru. "Are you ready to meet all zhe Russian's in one place?" he asked, releasing Sulu's arm so he could hold the door open. 

Sulu was ready to meet basically anyone if it meant he was going inside some where it was warm. “Don’t think you’d be able to fit a couple million people in one building Pav.” He teased, slipping past Chekov to get inside. 

Once in, Sulu sighed happily, smelling some of that promised hot chocolate in the air. He couldn’t wait to get some! Hikaru paused to let Chekov catch up, letting the navigator find them a table. 

Chekov playfully responded by sticking his tongue out, slipping in behind the pilot. Once inside, he breathed deeply, childhood memories drifting back. "Zhis vas zhe place to be vhen I vas younger," he told Hikaru, looking around. "Seems eet still ees!" he clapped his hands excitedly, moving to the front so he could look at the menu. He glanced at Sulu, a bit concerned. "Do you vant me to translate?" he asked. The signs were mainly in Russian, but they had standard english written under them, though the print was small. "Or are zhe pictures enough? Eweryzhing ees good so I do not zhink you vill make a vrng choice." 

Sulu moved to stand beside Chekov, looking over the menu. “Uh… Just, order me something hot to drink. That hot chocolate you promised me sounds amazing.” He wasn’t hungry at all, just still a bit cold despite the warm atmosphere inside. 

Chekov nodded, moving to the cashier and ordering two hot chocolates. They were ready in no time, and he turned to hand Sulu a large mug. "Let's sit ower zhere," he suggested, gesturing to an empty table. He sauntered over to it, sliding onto the bench. "So, first impression... Ees eet good?" he curled around the hot chocolate. "Russia, not zhis," he added with a grin. 

Sulu was all but purring over his hot chocolate, curled over it happily, enjoying the warmth it let off, and the sweetness when he took a sip. He looked up at Chekov at his question, giving him a grin. “Yeah, it’s great so far. Very cold, but fun. I can’t wait to see what you have to show me next.”

Chekov lit up at Sulu's answer. "Good good! I vas scared you vould hate eet," he admitted, finally taking a sip of his drink. It was as good as he was expecting, maybe more. "Russia converts everyone!" he giggled, content to sit and drink for a while. He started to think about what he was going to show Karu next. There were so many things he wanted to do and so little time. 

"Do you vant to go ice skating??" he blurted out suddenly. 

Sulu snorted a little. He wouldn’t say he was _converted_. Not that he was going to say that out loud. He hesitated a bit at the offer of ice skating, taking another drink of his hot chocolate. He’d never been ice skating and, to be honest, it was a bit of an intimidating idea. Voluntarily racing around on top of a frozen expanse of water. Which sometimes wasn’t always _completely_ frozen? Last thing he wanted was to experience frigid icy waters. Snow in his shirt was bad enough.

But, it was part of the experience he supposed, and he wasn’t gonna let his friend down. Besides, he shouldn’t automatically assume it was terrible until he tried it. Rationally, he knew it was probably perfectly safe, and he’d have a great time. So, he finished his hot chocolate, relishing in the warmth in his belly from it, and grinned at Chekov. “Yeah. Let’s go ice skating.”

Chekov was beginning to worry when Sulu hesitated. There were plenty of other things to do and he didn't want to make his friend uncomfortable. Eventually it was decided, however, and Pavel smiled, finishing the rest of his hot chocolate. He rose to his feet and hurried to the door. "I am not zhat great at ice skating, but it vill be fun!" he said, trotting out the door. 

He waited a moment for Sulu to catch up before moving forward. "Eet ees not too far," he assured the Asian, smiling up at him. "Eet ees zhis giant lake zhat freezes ower. Zhere are usually ice fishing holes, too! Hawe you ewer seen ice fishing?" 

Sulu shook his head, keeping pace beside Chekov. “I barely believe it’s a real thing.” He chuckled, giving Pav a grin. “Who would be crazy enough to put a hole in some ice and sit around it? All I can picture is someone fishing up some frozen fish popsicle.”

Chekov laughed. "I know, right? Apparently eet does somezhing because people still do eet." 

After a few minutes walk, they reached the large, frozen pond. There was a stand that was renting out ice skates and a couple people were already out on the ice. Chekov grinned, taking a single hop forward. "Do you know how to skate? I vill try to teach you, but I am not zhat good myself." 

Sulu moved toward the stand to get in line, though his attention was mainly on the people already out on the ice. “Can’t say I’ve ever ice skated before, but how difficult can it be? I’m not so much worried about staying on my feet…” He commented, tugging his jacket closer around him as he tried not to shiver from the wind. “I’m more worried about staying /above/ the ice. Though, considering how /cold/ it is, I guess I shouldn’t worry.” 

Except his still kinda did, but pushed it away so not to ruin Pav’s good cheer. Instead he gave Chekov a cheeky grin. “Don’t worry, if you fall down I promise to help you up before I start laughing.” 

Chekov threw a reassuring arm over Sulu's shoulder. "Do not vorry," he said, and pointed to fences barracading parts of the lake. "Zhose are zhe veak spots. Zhe whole rest of zhe zhing is safe, promise." he smiled at him, then giggled. "Are you sure you don't mean after?" he teased, moving up to the front of the line. He ordered skates for them both, trading them for some money when the stand-keeper handed the items to them. Chekov handed a pair to Sulu before moving over to the bench to put his own on. Once on, he stood up, sticking his arms out to balance himself on the snow. "Voah.... Zhis ees veird." 

Sulu nodded, willing to accept Pav’s reassurance. Besides, there were tons of other people out on the ice so it had to be safe. 

He snickered some seeing Pav try to stand, taking his own sweet time getting his skates on. He had the advantage of watching Pav try to stand and walk first, but Sulu still felt wobbly when he stood up. “Yeah, completely agree… this is weird.” He laughed, taking an awkward step forward in the snow, trying to be extra careful so he didn’t end up face down in it. 

“C’mon, let’s go.” He offered his arm to Chekov, hoping maybe they could support each other well enough that they’d both make it to the ice without falling. Sulu was sure there’d be more than enough of that once they got skating. 

Chekov carefully took Sulu's arm. Seconds after, he lost his balance and nearly fell. He gave Sulu a sheepish smile. "Zhis ees going to be interesting," he stated, stepping forward again. 

The first foot on the ice wasn't exactly great either. 

Between laughter and trying not to make Hikaru fall down, Pavel was having a hard time keeping his balance, tripping all over himself.

Sulu didn’t fare any better than Chekov, though having a body there to hold onto _did_ help him stay on his feet… despite the many times Chekov almost made him fall. He figured they were pretty much even though, because Hikaru was sure there was more than once he’d nearly caused Pav to hit the ice. 

Surprisingly, Hikaru found himself having a great time, laughing along with Pavel. He was too focused on staying upright to even feel the cold at the moment, the physical exertion enough to keep him warm. He was feeling pretty good, almost getting the hang of how to move without feeling like he was going to fall over backwards, so he let go of Pav to try and stand on his own. 

The duo had been kinda circling the lake, mostly because there weren’t many people along the perimeter, and Sulu didn’t want to risk crashing into anyone. It might have brought them closer to the fenced off area, but at least he didn’t have to worry about other skaters running them over. 

Hikaru was so focused and concentrated on staying on his feet now that he didn’t have Chekov right next to him for support, that he didn’t see the other skater flying their way. The other guy was completely out of control, headed straight for Karu. Sulu looked over at the warning shout, but he wasn’t a great skater in the first place, and he couldn’t get out of the way. 

The other skater collided roughly with Sulu, sending the pilot falling through the thin fence and sliding some feet away. Sulu sat up slowly, because that had actually hurt, thanks guy. “Well, there goes my chances of ice skating for the first time without falling.” He commented, shaking his head, not really noticing just where he’d landed. Until there was a slight cracking sound. 

When Sulu let go, Chekov half panicked because there went his stabilizer, but he managed pretty okay. He _did_ actually fall down once, getting up only after laughing. He was starting to get the hang of it after that. He was able to push forward some and was a little better on his feet, though he wasn't about to go fast or try any tricks. He still had to worry about his footwork and turning.

He glanced over at Sulu to see how the Asian was fairing, when he saw another skater barreling right towards him. He was about to warn Sulu, but it was too late.

Chekov cringed, slowly sliding forward once the damage was done. "Are you oka--" 

Before he could finish, he heard the quiet but distinct crack. His eyes widened, finally taking into account where exactly Sulu had fallen. He inched forward, holding out his hand as the ice started cracking more and more. 

Sulu was fairly certain his heart stopped beating for a second after a louder crack from underneath him. He would have sworn he felt the ice shift and sink slightly, and he held up a warning hand to stop Chekov. “Stop! Don’t move.” He cautioned, glancing at the growing cracks. Pav extra weight would make it worse, and while he was internally freaking out, he still hoped and prayed that maybe he could slide his way over to safe ground (or ice) before it broke out from under him. 

The guy who’d ran into Sulu was still on the ground, safely on solid ice because he’d been stopped by running into Sulu, and was apologizing profusely. Not that Sulu cared right now. He was more focused on slowly shifting so that he could start sliding back toward solid ice. 

It did not go well. He’d barely moved an inch when a hole broke in the ice, one foot falling into the water. It was painfully cold, and shocking, and for a moment Hikaru panicked, attempting to move forward too quickly and the entire cracked ice gave way underneath him. He managed to keep his head above water, which was good because he gasped in at the sudden **cold** all around him, and grabbed at the ledge of ice in front of him to keep himself above water.

Chekov stopped immediately, scrambling back some to counter his previous action. He watched the scene unfold before him with an overly concerned expression, holding his breath. Sulu seemed to move agonizingly slow. Pavel wanted to scream to make him move faster, or even better, to simply reach forward and grab him, but he understood. Move too fast and everything could crumble.

But apparently moving slow didn't matter. Within seconds, everything fell apart. Chekov gasped, watching Sulu flounder. It was as if he was frozen himself.

The realization hit him like a chain, left gasping for breath. He looked over at the man who now watched with wide eyes himself. Chekov yelled at him to get help, and the man scrambled off instantly. Other than his and other's distant shouts, it was quiet. Pavel thought for sure either he or Karu would yelp, make some kind of noise, but they were both nearly quiet except for the Asian's gasps. Deep in his mind he knew he had to do something, but his actions felt muddled and slow. 

At one point, Chekov was aware that he had rolled onto his stomach. He tried to reach out to Sulu again, but the familiar cracking sound stopped him. It would do them no good if they both fell in. All of a sudden Russian voices filled his ears. People were there to help, scrambling to try and get Sulu out of the water without falling in themselves.

Hikaru was pretty sure he was in the water forever, the only think keeping him above the water was his grip on the somewhat stable edge of ice. He was afraid to let go, not sure if he could have gotten his nearly numb arms to do so even if he’d wanted to. 

It still took a little bit of time once help arrived, but eventually Sulu was back on solid ice again. Everything seemed to be moving way too fast for Sulu too keep up with and a distant part of his mind knew it was probably shock. Everyone was talking in Russian around him, so at least he didn’t have to try and pay attention to them. 

An indescribably amount of time later, and Hikaru was finally inside one of the cabins. He knew the air should be warm and inviting, but he couldn’t stop shivering. He though he heard someone mention the Enterprise and he chuckled at that. Next thing he knew here was a doctor in his face and he was in a room and the guy was giving him dry clothes and trying to help him out of the soaked icy once. 

Pretty early on, Chekov got shoved out of the way. Most of the men surrounding the cracked ice were bigger than him. Though Chekov didn't think it was terribly safe, he did take a step back and watched worriedly with afar. Sulu had warned him about falling in and it had happened. What a good friend he turned out to be.

The Russian bit his tongue, feeling better but not completely at ease when they pulled Sulu out of the water. Almost immediately they started moving him, Pavel struggling to keep up. He could hear them talking about shock and how they needed to get him warm again.

Chekov followed close behind, wobbling on the skates once they were inside. He was about to follow Sulu into the room when a strong arm stuck out in front of him, barring the way. Chekov looked over with surprise at the man. "I must go in, he is my best friend!" he pleaded in Russian, voice pinched in concern. The man simply shook his head. "You're not going anywhere until the doc gives you clearance." 

Naturally, like any other time a doctor wanted him to undress, Sulu was not so cooperative. (He never is when he's all loopy and stuff.) Even icy cold, wearing soaked clothing, he protested. He insisted on doing it himself when the doctor attempted to do it for him, making the process go a bit slower seeing as he was glaring at the doctor the whole time, but eventually he was dry and wrapped in a couple of very thick blankets. 

Unfortunately, the thick blankets were a bit counterproductive. Warm, yes, but smotheringly so. Sulu was still shivering, but breathing too quickly. The doctor next to him was talking, but he couldn’t focus on the words, head spinning. 

Outside, storming very angrily up the stairs to the lodge, was an exceptionally cranky CMO. He’d been having a peaceful, relaxing day with no pranksters in sight, when Jim had gotten a message from the surface. And _of course_ it would have been due to none other than one mischievous pilot. Normally, McCoy would just let the local physicians handle it, but he knew Sulu and how slippery the pilot could be. He wasn’t going to let some local doctor get the wool pulled over his eyes by Hikaru trying to play the hero and say he was fine. 

It wasn’t hard for him to find where Sulu was, he just had to follow the voices. He frowned seeing Chekov outside the room, arguing with some big brute. Delightful. They’d separated the only one on the planet who could make Sulu see sense when it came to doctors. 

"I don't care who you are or what you do, you're not going in!" 

Chekov opened his mouth to retort, the annoyance pushing out his fear at the moment. Before he could do so, however, McCoy stepped up. Chekov lit up at seeing him. He was surprised to see he had come down all the way for Sulu, but the navigator felt _much_ better knowing Hikaru would be under the best care possible. 

He sent the big Russian an unwavering glare, following close beside the doctor. 

“He’s with me. Someone’s gotta keep that pilot from sneaking out a window.” McCoy snapped out gruffly as he stepped up beside Chekov. He didn’t wait for the big Russian to respond, continuing. “I’m the CMO of the Enterprise, and that man in there’s primary physician. So, _if_ you don’t mind…”

With that, McCoy barreled right on through the door, pausing to narrow his eyes at the doctor and Sulu. “My god, man, just what the hell are you doing?” He understood that it was imperative to warm Hikaru, but this doctor was treating him like he was one of the burly native Russians who was used to the cold. It looked like Sulu was a hairs breadth away from flat passing out, so McCoy strode over and pulled one of the thick blankets away from him. 

The other doctor started talking at him then, upset and indignant, but he was speaking Russian so McCoy didn’t pay him any attention. Wouldn't have no matter what language he was speaking, but at least it was easier to ignore him this way. Instead he focused on Sulu, not liking the time it took Hikaru to recognize and react to his presence. A moment later, McCoy took the other thick blanket away, to which Sulu let out a sad little unhappy noise. 

“Don’t be such a baby, it was smothering you and you know it.” McCoy huffed, moving past the other doctor and Chekov to find a lighter blanket that would work better. 

“Yeah, but it was warm.” Sulu retorted through chattering teeth, eyes drifting over to Chekov to smile at him.

McCoy rolled his eyes, tugging Chekov forward as he walked back to Sulu. “Here, you sit with him. It’ll help him warm up easier. Without smothering him.” McCoy stated, shooting the other doctor a look as he tossed the blanket over Sulu.

If there was a colour he could choose to represent what Sulu looked right now,it would definitely be blue. Chekov bit his tongue, immediately moving forward to take his friend's hand. It was startlingly cold to the touch. He gently started to rub it, ignoring the Russian doctor's comments, though he had to admit that while Doctor McCoy was frequent in strong language, this guy was stronger. He let those words fly without a care and he snickered somewhat. "You should hear vhat zhe Russian ees saying," he whispered in Karu's ear, grinning slightly at him.

At McCoy's request, he quickly hopped on the bed and huddled around Sulu. The thought of doing this was at the front of his mind, but he had done so before and gotten yelled at. Apparently it was okay, though, and he was totally fine with it. Chekov closed his eyes and squeezed Sulu's hand a couple times, trying to transfer the cold onto him. He felt so bad about everything. The day had started so well and then it just fell through the ice. Literally. 

Pavel sniffed, opening his eyes again and leaning his head on Sulu's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Karu," he murmured, quiet enough so McCoy wouldn't hear. He was in no mood for a lecture.

Sulu chuckled, shivering and curling into Chekov. He thought it was a bit weird how he was shivering harder now, even though he was getting warmer, but McCoy was there and wasn’t concerned so Karu figured it was normal. “Come on, Pav, don’t be sorry. It wasn’t your fault, coulda happened to anyone.” He grinned at Chekov, then glanced over to the Russian doctor and then to where McCoy was preparing something out of his medkit. Sulu’s gaze slid back to Pavel and he spoke in a not so quiet conspiratorial whisper. “Tell ya what, you teach me some of what that guy was saying, and we’ll call it even.” He offered, nodding to the still seething other doctor. 

Chekov shrugged. Maybe not directly, but he should have listened to Sulu's concerns, been a little more careful. Then maybe none of this would've happened. 

He bit back a sigh and forced a smile, glancing over at the now quiet doctor.

"Okay, vell, vhat he vas saying earlier vas..." he paused, giggling. "'get zhe f-ing doctor out of here, you should not bring zhat 's vord' in here, get out!'" he smirked. "You get zhe idea." he glanced towards McCoy then, with an apologetic but humoured look. "Sorry doctor, but he does not like you at all." 

McCoy snorted, rolling his eyes as he came over. “Ain’t the first time, won’t be the last. Now,” he looked over at Sulu sternly, holding up a hypo, “you sit still. This here is for the shock.” He administered the injection, straightening up and scowling over at the other doctor for a moment. The man should be thankful McCoy’d shown up. Bones was positive Sulu’d have scurried away at the first opportunity otherwise. Either that or suffocated to death under all those blankets, making his condition worse. 

“You two take it easy for the rest of the day, but Sulu here should be fine. I don’t recommend trying to eat or drink anything until he can hold onto it without spilling it all over the place from shaking.” McCoy advised. He planned to stick around for a little longer to make sure, but so far as he could tell the pilot wasn’t in any danger. 

Hikaru made a face, giving McCoy some puppy eyes. “But, there’s this amazing hot cocoa…”

“If you wanna risk drinking it and getting sick, be my guest, but don’t come complainin’ to me.” McCoy huffed. He glanced over at Chekov, giving him an exasperated look. “Keep him outta any more trouble, if you can.”

Chekov nodded, but was secretly disappointed. He was planning on taking Sulu to eat some /real/ Russian food 

At Mccoy's final comment, he smiled. "Do not vorry, I vill keep a good eye on him," he assured, curling closer around the pilot as if showing McCoy. He still couldn't shake the guilt and fear from earlier, and he wasn't going to take anymore chances.

"Tomorrow ve vill drink all zhe hot chocolate you vant," Pavel promised Sulu.


	5. Just Nope

It was the last day of shore leave for Hikaru. They’d stopped at a Federation controlled planet to resupply and it just so happened to turn out that Sulu was on his own for his allotted time off duty. Which was fine with him, even he could appreciate some time to himself to relax. Though he did wonder what kind of adventure he might have had if Chekov had been able to accompany him. He’d even have settled for McCoy. 

But, neither were available, so Hikaru was left to his own devices. Mostly that meant he kept to himself, spending a lot of time just lazing about and catching up on the things he hadn’t had time to get around to while being chief helmsman. The rest of the time he spent exploring the city he was visiting. 

Currently, he was having a late lunch at what he’d been told was a very popular establishment. The food was good, so he couldn’t complain about that, but the atmosphere was, put bluntly, more reminiscent of an old earth type bar rather than anything else. Midway during his meal, an alien came and sat beside him at the bar, striking up a conversation. 

Sulu wasn’t positive what race the man was, but the alien was mostly humanoid and was friendly, so Hikaru chatted with him during the meal. Sulu didn’t even realize the man was flirting with him until there was a hand on his knee, the alien explaining about some festival to take place very soon. 

Hikaru shifted in his seat, successfully dislodging the offending appendage. “Yeah, this planet is beautiful, and I’m sure it’ll be a great party. It’s too bad my husband couldn’t make it to spend the shore leave with me. He’s a fan of nature, he’d have loved to go hiking or join in on that festival.” Sulu expressed, not so subtly trying to indicate that he was not looking for anything, or anyone, here. 

“Well, I would be more than happy to keep you company.” The alien purred, scooting closer.

Hikaru paused at that, surprised. He’d expected the mention of Ben to cause the man to move on, but he didn’t seem bothered at all. “Ben and I are… exclusive.” He reiterated, still going for polite tact.   
“I don’t see this _Ben_ anywhere.” 

Sulu would swear the alien was going for a pout, but his attention was diverted when the man trailed a hand down his arm. Hikaru tensed, brow furrowing. Okay, so polite tact was obviously not the way to go. Whether this guy didn’t notice or didn’t care, Sulu needed to put a stop to this now. And probably just leave the establishment altogether.

“Look,” Sulu began, this time his tone firm. He carefully moved the man’s hand off his arm, pushing it out of his space and back to its owner. “I’m not interested. I-“

The rest of his rejection was cut off as the alien had apparently had enough waiting. The man gripped Sulu’s wrist, pulling him forward while simultaneously leaning forward and pressing his lips to Sulu’s and using his other hand to wrap around Hikaru’s shoulders to press him close.

Sulu froze for a second in shock at the unexpected action, but a second later he was forcefully shoving the man away. “I said I’m not interested.” He snapped, truly angry now.

“Oh, come on, don’t play hard to get. I know you explorer types, going months and months out in space. Let me just-“

“Enough. I’ve told you more than once. I’m not interested. I’m married, happily, and only here on shore leave. I’m not looking for anything.” Sulu took a slow breath, trying to calm down. Whatever the circumstances, it would not look good on him if he started a bar fight here while he was on shore leave. He was glad that today was his last day, he was due back to the ship in a couple hours. However, it was looking like heading back early was probably a good idea.

“Sorry for the disturbance.” Sulu apologized to the bar tender/owner, who had by this point come over to investigate the mini argument. Hikaru took that opportunity to hand him the appropriate credits for his drink and meal, then turned to the one who’d been hitting on him. It wasn’t _easy_ to take the high road, but it beat the alternative. “It wasn’t my intention to mislead you. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to return to my ship.”

Sulu kept an eye on the man as he moved past, more than ready to defend himself should the man prove hostile. Or try to kiss him again. He made it out un-accosted, the alien having apparently taken his word for it this time and easily moved on to another target. 

While his shore leave wasn’t completely ruined by the recent events, his mood certainly was. He was tense and agitated the entire walk, attempting to calm himself before contacting the Enterprise to be beamed up. He had time after all, he was early. 

After a while, he gave it up as a lost cause, flipping open his communicator and requesting to be beamed up. Sulu scowled at the officer operating the transporter, causing the too curious man to drop his gaze and pretend the console was the most interesting thing in the room. Hikaru felt only the slightest bit of guilt, but stalked his way out of the room anyway. He’d find the guy and apologize later.

He was making his way down the corridor, headed to his own quarters, when Pav popped up out of nowhere beside him. “Vhat is vrong?”

Surprising as Chekov’s appearance was, Sulu didn’t break stride. “Who says something’s wrong?”

“You hawe murder eyes. Vhat happened?”

Sulu snorted at that, amused despite himself. “Murder eyes? You’ve been spending too much time with Uhura.”

“Perhaps, but eet iz no less true. So?”

Sulu shook his head, opening the door to his room and waving Pav to follow him. He was more than happy to explain the entire thing, in detail, and have someone else besides himself be outraged. “You are never gonna _believe_ what just happened to me…”


	6. Pitfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again for another Chekov and Sulu adventure!!!  
> Can you tell who my fav character is? And who his bestest buddy is?   
> Kudos to my friend August, who wrote Chekov's little excerpt in the middle. You da best friend!

“Are ve lost…. Again?” Chekov asked, unable to keep the teasing tone from his voice. 

“What? No, of course not. I know exactly where we are.” Sulu responded, head held high. He sighed a moment later, lifting a hand to gesture around them. “We’re in a forest, on a planet at coordinates 2335.173. About…. An hour walk from the settlement.”

Sulu was met by silence at that and stopped walking. When he turned to look at Chekov he found Pavel with his face in his hands, shaking his head slowly and muttering to himself in Russian. 

“Alright, fine.” Sulu sighed again, coming to a stop and crossing his arms. “Yes, we are lost. Again. But this time, it _isn’t_ my fault.”

“Da, glad we cleared that up.” Chekov scoffed.

Sulu narrowed his eyes, shaking his head slowly. “You are spending way too much time with me. I’ve corrupted you. The sass. I can’t believe it.” Sulu threw his hands up, keeping up the mock disappointed look, and started walking again. “Come on, this little ‘black out’ area can’t last forever.”

Chekov chuckled and jogged the couple of steps to walk beside his friend. 

Honestly, it hadn’t been either of their fault this time. No wandering off the beaten path chasing after plants or fluffy tailed bunnies. Well… they had wandered off the beaten path, but it was for a good reason. The Enterprise was in orbit over the planet, having been called to help the settlement there with some issue. Neither Sulu nor Chekov really knew what it was at this point. They’d only been down on the surface for a couple hours, hardly enough time to figure out what the problem was, when they’d been selected to go and find a group of youngsters that had apparently gotten lost.

Unfortunately, the general area the duo currently found themselves in, was a type of deadzone. For whatever reason, sensors and communicators didn’t work. The villagers knew not to come this way, and delinquent kids or not, Sulu was fairly certain the ones they’d been sent out to find were not in this forest. The few people he’d had a chance to talk to before this little side mission had spoken of the forest in an almost superstitious way. Frankly, Hikaru had no idea how they’d even found themselves here.

All either of them really knew was that, after a couple hours of fruitless searching, they’d attempted to contact Kirk to see if the kids had shown back up only to find the comms down and the tricorders not working. Neither of them were particularly worried. Irritated, yes, but not worried. 

The settlement had been on the planet long enough to have explored it, even this spooky forest, well enough to be certain there were no dangers. The planet held no large predators, there was not any harsh weather, and there were no natives. The only thing either of them really worried about was having to spend the night outside, and causing the captain to fret and worry about them being missing, but even that was unlikely. They just had to keep walking and eventually their comms would work again.

“If it lasts too much longer, zhe keptain is going to send out a search party for us.” Chekov pointed out unhelpfully. 

“Yeah, but he’ll probably wait a while. Seeing as this place is a few shades shy of paradise and all.” Sulu shrugged. It kinda was, in his opinion. Great weather, no dangerous things. The walk while out searching for the kids had been pretty pleasant.

Chekov rolled his eyes, smiling slightly. It was hard to be worried, even with the fading light, when Sulu was so unconcerned, so he didn’t. He amused himself watching their surrounding for a while, but with no animals (weird enough in itself considering they were in a _forest_ ) he got bored quickly. Chekov cast a few glances at Sulu and found him with a similar expression, sighed rather dramatically, and sidled up to him. “Karu, I’m bored.”

“Alright.” Sulu answered quickly, as if he’d been expecting the statement. There was a mischievous glint to his eyes as he glanced at Chekov. “So… You wanna play I spy?”

Chekov laughed, clapping his hand over his mouth, shoulder shaking as he giggled. “Okay.” He managed to choke out.

“Alright, I’ll go first.” Sulu started, having to struggle to keep back laugher of his own. “I spy something… green.” 

Chekov snorted, trying to mimic Sulu and put on a straight face. “T-tree?” He asked, coughing slightly to keep from dissolving into laugher again at Sulu’s little huffed ‘aw’ of defeat. “My turn?”

“Yeah.” 

“Okay, I spy somezhing…” Chekov paused here for a moment, glancing over at a now smirking Karu. “…tall.”

Sulu pretended to look around, brows furrowed in concentration. “Tree.” 

Chekov nodded, too busy choking down giggles to say anything, and Sulu tapped his chin as he glanced around. “I spy something… with bark.”

“Tree.” 

“I spy somezhing. A wertical log…”

“Tree. Okay. I spy something-“

“Tree” Chekov put his hands in his pockets, laughing at Karu as he threw up his hands dramatically. “’Kay, my turn-“ Chekov stopped short, all fun and laughter vanishing as there was a sharp cracking sound.

The two of them froze, Sulu looking down as the ground shifted beneath them. Sulu looked up to meet Chekov’s eyes for a split second, then stepped forward and grabbed him by the collar and shoved him back. 

Pavel stumbled back from the force of Sulu’s shove, back peddling a fair few feet to keep from falling down. It was instinct that had him turn and jump the last foot or so as the ground gave way completely. He landed flat on his front, rolling over quickly to look with horrified eyes at where Sulu had been only moments before. He scrambled onto his knees, eyes searching for the pilot in the black pit in front of him. 

He was gone. Just like that, his best friend was gone, swallowed up by the earth. Chekov listened, hoping for some sort of sign that Karu was still alive, but the only sound he could hear was the pounding of blood in his ears. All else was silent. 

Pavel inched as close to the edge as he dared, head and upper body dangling dangerously over the pit. Only when his fingers start to slip did he shift back. It would do no good to end up down there as well.

He wanted to cry out, but Hikaru's name got choked in his throat and refused to come out. His chest felt tight and his hands numb. He could feel something wet run down his cheeks and when he stuck his tongue out to taste it, it was salty. Was he crying? It didn't feel like he was. All he could feel was the fear and dread that Sulu was dead. Sulu died because he saved _him_. Pavel hated that. Karu would deny to the end that he shouldn't feel bad, and that there was nothing to be ashamed of, but in Chekov's book it was all a loss. He should've reacted faster. Shouldn't have agreed to play that stupid I spy game. Maybe then Karu would still be alive. He was the ship's _navigator_ for goodness sakes: they shouldn't even have gotten lost in the first place. 

Pavel sat back, finally giving up from searching the blackness. There was nothing there and if there was it wasn't to be seen. He knew, deep down, that he had to start moving again, but he couldn't just leave Karu like that. _Wouldn't_ leave Karu. What if he was somehow still alive? No one would be here to help him out. The realist in him told him that no one could survive that fall, that he was gone and no amount of hoping would bring him back. Still, he couldn't see a body so that had to count for something, right? 

In the end, Chekov decided to stay. It was stupid, it was illogical, but he couldn't work up the will to leave. It was dark now anyway, so what was the point? 

Pavel took a shaky breath and moved away from the giant hole, crawling to a tree nearby. He leaned against it, closing his his eyes in an attempt to stop his body from trembling. He felt a drop of sweat run down his temple and lifted a hand to wipe it off, confused as to why he was sweating when he felt so cold. In the back of his mind he could hear McCoy yelling at him to get his breathing under control. He _was_ breathing pretty fast, but everytime he tried to slow it down, he pictured Sulu falling and it sped right back up again. 

His heart continued to pound, leaving him feel like he just ran a marathon. He wanted to sleep, hit with a sudden round of fatigue, but he knew if he did that he might miss Sulu's voice. If he missed his chance to help, then he would _really_ feel bad. He already felt guilty enough for causing Hikaru to fall. 

Chekov opened his eyes a few moments later. It felt like his heart was starting to slow, but now he felt weak, tired, and useless. He wondered how much time had passed. Surely no more than ten minutes, but in all honesty, he didn't know. 

He knew at once that if he didn't stand up now, he was going to fall asleep. Despite the protests in his stiff, tense joints, Pavel stood up. A wave of dizziness met him and he had to sling an arm around the tree to keep from falling to his knees. It passed quickly and he stepped forward to examine the pit once again. He started to circle it, slowly, cautiously, keeping a careful eye out for any way down or any flash of gold. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to walk so close to the edge the way his legs trembled, but he felt fine enough and the resolve to find Karu was stronger than his current unsteadiness. 

After a while, he heard something. He thought he did, but he wondered if maybe he was just being too hopeful. Hesitantly at first, he called out Sulu's name, hoping that maybe his friend would hear, would respond.

Everything was dark. Everything hurt too, but mostly Sulu was worried about the dark. The part where his thoughts were sluggish wasn’t that great either, but he really really wished he could see. He could hear something, someone, and he coughed, struggling to sit up as he opened his eyes. 

Okay, good, so he could still see then. There wasn’t _much_ light filtering in from above, but there was enough for him to figure out why his mouth tasted like blood and dirt. He was half buried in dirt, a few rocks and branches visible in the little mound. He could feel the ground under him was the same loose dirt, and had likely been the reason he hadn’t broken anything in the fall.  
At least, he didn’t _think_ anything was broken. 

Hikaru blinked, looking up again as he registered a sound, a voice calling his name. What? Oh, Pav. Chekov wasn’t down here, so he must have succeeded pushing him out of the way. “I’m alright!” he called up to Chekov, wincing as the loud sound made him painfully aware of his headache. The movement also informed him of the icey sharp pain in his ribs. He began shoveling dirt off of him, hoping that would help, though he knew it wouldn’t. 

Still, after a fall like that, getting away with some cracked or broken ribs wasn’t so bad. 

He pulled himself to his feet once he’d unearthed himself, putting a steadying hand out on the stone wall as his head spun. 

“Karu! Karu!” 

Sulu shook his head, looking up again at the desperate shout. “Yeah, Pav. I’m here.” He called back. It was hard concentrating, but he really needed to focus. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get out of this pit he’d fallen into, and he was equally unsure how Pavel was going to go find help and bring that help back here again. Chekov would be able to get out of the forest, eventually, but finding this exact spot again wasn’t likely. 

“I’m, uh… It looks like a sort of… tunnel here.” Sulu called up, peering around at the darkness. He might not know what to do right now, but if he just went quiet he’d only worry Chekov more. And letting the Russian know about the pain in his chest, or the blood marring his uniform, wasn’t going to help anyone.

He took a couple of steps, coming to a halt and closing his eyes again as his head swam. Okay, so add likely concussion to his list. Boy, was McCoy going to have a fit. Distantly, he heard Chekov again, and it was a struggle to concentrate enough to speak up again. “I’m fine, Pav. It’s like a cave or something here. Just a bunch of dirt and rock.” 

Hikaru frowned, realizing belatedly he’d repeated himself. He pulled out his comm, flipping it open and frowning as he found it was still dead. Oh, right. That deadzone thing. He put that away and pulled out the scanner, which surprisingly worked. “Hey, Pav, the scanner works down here. Looks like there’s a few tunnels, I can probably find a way out of at least one of them.” 

“Karu, you can’t go wandering alone down zhere.” Chekov called out. When Sulu looked up he could make out the mop of curly red hair peeking above the ledge above. 

“Well, I can’t exactly climb out, you can’t get down, and I don’t see a way for you to find your way back if you go get help.” Sulu pointed out, not daring to move any more. Looking up was dizzying enough.

There was a long moment of silence, and Sulu could just imagine Pav’s expression. Any other time, Sulu was positive he’d be able to think up at least one or two other alternatives to his plan. As murky as his thoughts and concentration were, even he didn’t think it was a great idea to wander alone down here, with just a slim chance of finding an exit. More than likely, he’d collapse down some tunnel, never to be heard from again.

“Hikaru!!” 

Sulu jerked, blinking in confusion at finding himself sitting down. “Yeah?” He coughed, shaking his head slightly, then repeated himself louder so that Chekov could hear him.

“I’m coming down zhere.” Chekov called, voice a bit distracted.

Sulu frowned, even more confused. That didn’t sound like a question and a second later there was what looked like rope hanging down a few feet away. It was hard to make it out with so little light, which was concerning in and of itself. Sulu didn’t remember the light having faded so much. Before Sulu could offer so much as an objection, Chekov was already sliding his way down. 

“Ah, great. Now we’re both stuck.” Sulu quipped. Okay, not exactly helpful, but this was Chekov and it wasn’t like he was going to get in trouble for being sassy and/or rude. 

“Be as rude as you vant.” Chekov huffed, moving over to kneel next to Sulu. “But I vasn’t going to leawe you, and since you couldn’t climb up, zhis vas zhe only vay.”

Sulu nodded once, then stopped because the motion made him want to puke. “Okay, okay. You win. Your idea is probably better.” Even though Sulu’s idea would have meant Chekov would have made it back to the settlement safely.

“Any idea is better zhan just abandoning you.” Chekov stated, fishing out a small little flashlight he’d brought with him. Sulu winced at the bright light, closing his eyes and turning his head slightly. Chekov bit his tongue at the state of his friend, most worried about the cut on Sulu’s head. That and the blood both explained Hikaru’s odd behavior and words.

A quick glance over the rest of the pilot showed he wasn’t exactly in the best shape, but Sulu had been moving earlier so Chekov hoped it wasn’t too serious. He turned the light to their surrounds, finding it just like Sulu had described. A sort of cave with a couple tunnels leading off in various directions.

“You said zhe tricorder vas vorking?” he questioned, eyes flickering between the different tunnels. 

“Uh, yeah, I think?” Sulu answered, not entirely sure if he’d actually said that or not. 

Chekov paused, turning to look at Sulu. The pilot was pale, leaning with his head against the wall of the cave behind him. There was blood and dirt caked in his hair, the gold of his shirt uniformed stained with both as well, and it looked like every breath the Asian took was a struggle. 

Pavel took a deep breath, keeping himself together. He’d had plenty of time to get his panic out and done with, right now he needed to stay calm. Sulu was injured and needed help. It was obvious the pilot was in no condition to be making decision or leading the way here. Chekov nodded to himself, resolute and determined he would find a way to get Sulu back to the Enterprise. 

“Alvight.” Chekov stated, more to himself than anything else. He pulled out his own tricorder, scanning their surroundings, trying to be quick but thorough. He wanted to get moving as soon as possible, it seemed like Sulu was in and out of it, so the sooner he got medical attention the better. “Come on Karu.” Pavel turned to help Sulu up, frowning sympathetically at the pained groan. “Eet is not far.”

“Just a hop skip and a jump, huh?” Sulu panted, stumbling forward at Chekov’s urging.

Chekov scoffed lightly, too worried to really be amused by the joke. “Da. Not far.” He assured, though he didn’t actually know how long this would take. He led them down the tunnel to the far right, it had been the one that stretched the longest according to the scan. The others stopped at a dead end not too far down. 

Every so often Chekov paused to check if the comm was working. Invariably, Sulu asked what he was doing each time. Chekov tried to tell himself it was just the head injury, and that Sulu would be just fine once they got back. (He refused to acknowledge the _if_ in that thought). They _would_ get back, and Sulu would be fine.

It was really hard to hold onto his calm when he had to repeat basic information he’d just told Hikaru. Thankfully, the pilot was still mobile, and walking mostly under his own power, though sometimes Chekov had to struggle when Sulu leaned to heavily on him. 

After a while, Pavel had a routine down. Walk for a while, stop and check the comm, keep Sulu awake, walk some more. He almost missed it when instead of blank static, he got a response on the comm.

“Chekov?!” Kirk’s voice came through, causing Pavel to jolt, jostling and near dropping Sulu to the floor as a result. “Chekov, are you alright? We’ve been trying to locate you and Sulu for hours, the Enterprise can’t find you on sensors either.”

“Aye, sir. I am alvight. Ve found ourselves is zhat ‘deadzone’ area zhe willagers spoke of.” Chekov informed him. “Sulu is here as vell, but he is injured. Zhere vas some sort of tunnel system, zhe ground gave vay and he fell.”

Chekov took a steadying breath, relieved to have finally contacted Kirk. If the comms were working, that meant they could be located by the Enterprise and hopefully beamed up. The comm went quiet for a moment and Chekov waited tiredly, swaying slight as he kept Sulu upright. 

“Chekov, the Enterprise sensors were able to locate you, but whatever that tunnel is made of is blocking the transporter. I’ll have myself and McCoy beamed to the entrance closest to you, and we’ll be there to help you out, alright?” 

Chekov nodded, answering a moment later. “Yes, sir. Ve’ll keep moving in zhe meantime.” He put the comm back in his pocket. Knowing that Kirk was on his way, and McCoy too, put a little extra vigor in his step. Soon, everything would be alright. Sulu’d be back on the ship, probably complaining about McCoy keeping him in sickbay, and everything would be back to normal.

It took a moment to get Sulu moving again, and once he did there was a slight limp in his step. Unfortunately, he didn’t get too much further before collapsing completely, and Pavel lowered him as easily as he could to the ground. He could only hope that Kirk and McCoy would find them soon, so he curled up next to Sulu, trying to make sure he stayed warm in the meantime. 

He must have dozed off because the next thing he knew, Chekov heard someone calling his name. He opened his eyes to see Kirk’s face in front of his. For a moment he was confused, then panicked when he realized Sulu wasn’t beside him anymore. “Karu! Sir, vhere-“

“Easy, take it easy Chekov. Sulu’s fine, McCoy’s got him.” Kirk assured, putting a hand on Chekov’s shoulder to keep him from jumping up to look for the pilot. He used his free hand to gesture to the side where, sure enough, McCoy was looking over Sulu with two other blue shirt crewman. 

Chekov swallowed, relaxing slightly as relief filled him. He was glad they’d thought to bring help, he knew Sulu was too out of it to walk on his own and he wasn’t too positive of his own ability to do that. Pavel watched for a moment as to two extra crewman helped Sulu up, one of the pilots arms over each shoulder with McCoy walking infront of them as they began moving. 

“C’mon.” Kirk urged, drawing Chekov’s attention away from the other group. The captain reached down, offering a hand to help Chekov up. “Let’s get outta here.”

Very happy to let someone else take charge now, Chekov nodded and accepted the help, letting Kirk support him on the way out of the cave.


	7. Christmas Spirit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little fic for the holiday. Some OOC and hilarity may be found here. Shinanigans and such.

It was official. Life was terrible, and everything was ruined. Sulu held back a sigh, casting yet another morose glance at the projected time it would take them to return to civilized space. It hadn’t budged from the two weeks it had shown when he’d looked at it five minutes ago.

Sulu didn’t have a problem being out in the middle of nowhere (which was saying something considering it was _space_ ), it was the fact that the current date was the day before Christmas. And they were in the middle of nowhere.

It was no one’s fault. Not really. One meteor field, a misunderstanding between two fighting ships that had subsequently turned on the Enterprise, and one freak wormhole had put them so far out that there was no way they would be able to come close to arriving at the starbase as originally scheduled.

Which, of course, meant that each and every one of the crew expecting to celebrate the holiday with their family, would not be doing so. This left basically all of the human crew with an exceptionally low moral. The halls were quite, no one wanting to say anything.

Not only was Sulu upset about missing out on spending the time with his family, but he was more than a little guilty at the sad and depressed mood Chekov had been in. Hikaru’d talked up how amazing and fun Christmas time was for his family, and he’d looked forward to the Russian joining in on the celebration. Chekov had been kind enough to invite (aka drag) him along for his Russian equivalent of the season last month.

Sulu leaned on the console, propping his face up with a hand as Chekov let out a little sigh. A few minutes later, Scotty was calling over the comm wanting Chekov’s help, having apparently found yet another something broken from the dogfight and wormhole adventure.

Chekov’s response was dull and listless, an agreement to come help that lacked his usual joyful enthusiasm. Yeah. Everything was ruined all right. He frowned to himself, tapping a finger on the console for a moment, an idea occurring to him.

Sure, he didn’t really feel in the mood to celebrate Christmas, Ben and his little girl weren’t with him and that was a hard blow, but he _had_ promised Pav. It would take more than a little effort, there wasn’t a whole lot of time…

Mind more or less made up, though still a little fuzz on details, he swiveled his chair around. “Sir? Captain?” Hikaru had to speak twice. Kirk had a sort of bored glazed look on his face, but he shook it off a second later.

“Yes. Mister Sulu, whats up?”

Sulu had to bite back a smile at the way Kirk was ineffectively trying to hide his inattention. “My shifts up in about ten minutes, could I be dismissed early. And also commandeer deck five. And Uhura.”

“Excuse me?” Uhura chime in, turning her chair away from her station and giving them both _a look_.

“Not what I meant.” Sulu explained, rolling his eyes slightly. “I need about six other people, but they’re not on duty right now.”

“Yeah, sure.” Kirk chuckled, glad to have some sort of life back in some of the human crewmembers. Besides, they were traveling through empty space, it wasn’t as if there was any danger. So, if Sulu had something in mind, Jim was more than happy to let him go at it. Anything to liven the place up.

“Awesome, thanks.” Hikaru grinned, relinquishing his post to an Ensign. He made his way over to communications, knowing better than to just assume that Uhura was up for helping. “So, feel like helping me out?”

“If this is another one of your pranks, I’m not in the mood.” She warned, turning to face him fully and crossing her arms.

“It’s not, I promise. Just… a little holiday cheer. Hopefully make everyone just a little less depressed about current circumstances.”

She made Sulu wait for a moment, but as he predicted, she ultimately agreed. Once in the lift, Sulu entered Deck 4. “Alright, first thing’s first, it’s not really a party without food. Since we’re having to ration out power usage, most of it’ll have to be homemade from what ever we have in storage. Jeremy and Elan are the best cooks on the ship.”

“What, so you want me to go make the menu?” Uhura stated, tone lilting up in annoyance.

“No, I want you to convince them to. Elan’s lazy when it comes to anything not on his list of duties, and Jeremy is just stubborn. But both of them are terrified of _you_ , so I figure, send in the best to get the job done.” Sulu explained easily, leaning on the wall as the doors opened on the deck. “After that, if you could secure Deck 5, that would be great. I’ve got to go to engineering and try and find something that’ll pass as a tree.”

“Alright, fine.” Uhura started to go, but paused and glanced back at Sulu. “But what should I tell people when they want to enter the lounge?”

“Tell them to come back tomorrow morning. We should have it all set up by then.”

~~

Having gotten Uhura’s promise to help, and set her up with what he needed her to do, Sulu rode the lift down to engineering. First thing he needed to do was try and find some décor. Or, more specifically, a tree. The only place that might have something passable would be engineering.

It didn’t take long to find who he was looking for, and when he did, Sulu put on his best smile, trotting over to the chief engineer. “Hey Scotty. I’m working on a little surprise for everyone and need some help. Think you could find me a tree?”

“A tree?!” Scotty barked out a laugh. “This is a starship, not a bloody forest. Wha the blazes would you need a tree for?”

“I’m planning a party. Most of the crew are upset about being so far out for the holiday, so I’m just trying to boost moral a bit.” Sulu explained, shrugging lightly. He kept his expression politely neutral when Scotty gave him a dubious look.

“Alright then.” Scotty eventually agreed, waving a hand for Sulu to follow him. “Let’s see what we can find then.”

It didn’t take too long, only about 15 minutes of wandering engineering. Hikaru found a couple of items that would suffice for decorations as well. Eventually they decided on a large silverfish scrap of metal they’d picked up on some mission. Sulu asked Scotty to get some people to bring it to deck 5, telling them to ask Uhura where to put it, then headed out of engineering.

Hikaru stopped by his room to pick up two packages, then headed to Spock’s quarters. This next favor was going to take more than a little bit of skill to achieve.

~~

A few hours later and Hikaru was finally finished. He’d gotten word from Uhura that everything was ready, so he was currently headed to the bridge. Kirk was still there, although all the other officers had switched shifts. Come to think of it, Sulu was surprised he hadn’t had Chekov looking for him… Or maybe Pav was and he just had been missing him.

Shrugging the thought away, Sulu headed over to Kirk. He pulled Jim to the side and whisper to him for a minute, handing him the remaining package. That done, he left the bridge, intending to find Chekov.

The doors to the lift had barely closed behind Sulu when he heard the Captain’s voice over the comms.

“Attention all crew. Unfortunately, as you all know, we will not be reaching the space station as scheduled. I know this has been a great disappointment to those who celebrate the holiday that is tomorrow. As such, the lounge on deck 5 has been decked out to celebrate the holiday. Any and all crew off duty are welcome to go by.”

Sulu nodded to himself, getting off the lift on deck 5. He figured that thanks to Kirk’s announcement, he would likely run into his friend on the way to the lounge. Sure enough, a couple turns down the corridor later, and he saw Chekov.

“Hey, Pav!” He called out to the Russian, trotting to catch up. He slung an arm over Chekov as they walked, grinning smugly.

“Did you hawe somezhing to do vith zhat?” Chekov guessed, chuckling at Hikaru’s expression.

“I might have, but honestly I left Uhura in charge of most of the set up.” He admitted. “I sent her a bunch of people, telling them to do what she said, so… here’s hoping it all turned out.”

“Vhat?! So you don’t ewen know?” Chekov laughed, shaking his head.

“Nope.” Sulu chirped, rocking on his heels as they came to a stop outside the lounge doors. “It would be basically impossible to get everyone Christmas presents, so I had to settle for little mini surprises. Can you blame me for wanting a little surprise of my own?” Sulu explained, leading the way throughout the doors.

Chekov didn’t answer as they walked in, just muttered to himself in Russian as he took in the room. It was pretty impressive. The scrap of metal from engineering actually resembled a Christmas tree, complete with lights, ornaments, and a star-like topper. The rest of the room was decorated with various items that represented multiple different holidays.

It wasn’t exactly the Christmas Sulu had been thinking of, but in his opinion, it was pretty perfect for the Enterprise and her crew.

Sulu tugged on Chekov’s arm, leading the way around the room as they inspected all the décor. “The party itself is the surprised/present for most of the crew. I’ll have santa deliver the gift you were supposed to get later.” Hikaru explained, sticking his tongue out briefly at Chekov. “Since Ben’s the one that did the shopping for the other people I wanted to get presents for, everyone else will have to settle for little things. The captain’s just glad to have the crew a little happier, so that’s his surprise. McCoy didn’t want to come and said if I wanted to give him a gift, just to find a way so Kirk didn’t drag him to this party.”

Chekov nodded, unsurprised. Considering it had been Hikaru planning the party, he wasn’t surprised. Looking around, it didn’t really seem like a place he’d see McCoy at. He did hope the doctor would come by later though, enjoy some holiday cheer when there wasn’t such a pressing crowd. “And how did you manage zhat?”

“Wasn’t too hard. I just gave him something else to do to help with the celebration. Also, I convinced Scotty to go along and help distract him. They should both be showing up pretty soon, so you’ll see what I mean.” Sulu shrugged and forged ahead, not wanting to spoil that little surprise. “Anyway, like I said Uhura helped with most of this, and as her little merry Chistmas surprise, I convinced Spock to do that.”

Sulu came to a stop as they walked around the makeshift Christmas tree, grinning as he nodding towards where the Vulcan was standing next to some other crewmen.

Chekov came to a dead stop, eye widening. Spock was dressed head to toe in green, red and yellow patterned designs on his outfit, complete with a pointed hat and golden bells. He was very unmistakably, dressed as an elf.

“How?!” Chekov demanded, tearing his eyes off of the commander and to Sulu.

“It took me the better part of an hour.” Sulu chuckled, still amazed himself that he’d been able to pull it off. “And it basically boiled down to me convincing him that it was for the good of the crew, and would dramatically boost morale and performance.”

“Really?” Chekov question, giving Sulu a dubious look.

“More or less. It was a lot of talking in circles, but really, when you get down to it, with the right arguments it’s possible to rationalize anything using logic.”

Chekov nodded slowly. That _did_ sound like the kind of reasoning that would convince a Vulcan. It made a sort of sense, at least so far as getting Spock to do something so… ridiculous. He grinned up at Sulu. “I zhink zhat Commander Spock alone vill make eweryone’s Christmas merry.”

Sulu chuckled and nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I hinted to McCoy about it, so hopefully he’ll at least drop by.” He glanced at the clock, then back over to Pavel. “And it’s officially Christmas, so Merry Christmas!”

As if on cue, the doors to the lounge burst open to reveal the one and only James T. Kirk decked out in a santa suite. Flanking him were Scotty and Keinser dressed up as elves. Both Sulu and Chekov burst out laughing as Kirk came strolling in ‘ho ho hoing’ the whole way.

“C’mon.” Sulu urged, tugging Chekov towards them. “We’re getting a picture of Santa and his elves.


End file.
